The Winnibigoshish Lake Dam is a dam at the outlet of

Lake Winnibigoshish Lake Winnibigoshish is a body of water in north central Minnesota in the Chippewa National Forest. Its name comes from the Ojibwe language ''Wiinibiigoonzhish'', a diminutive and pejorative form of ''Wiinibiig'', meaning "filthy water" (i.e., "br ...

into the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

in Minnesota, United States. The dam crosses the county line between Cass County and

Itasca County Itasca County (pronounced eye-ta-ska) is located in the State of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 45,014. Its county seat is Grand Rapids. The county is named after Lake Itasca, which is in turn a shortened version of the L ...

, and lies within the

Leech Lake Indian Reservation The Leech Lake Reservation (''Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag'' in the Ojibwe language) is an Indian reservation located in the north-central Minnesota counties of Cass, Itasca, Beltrami, and Hubbard. The reservation forms the land base for the federally ...

. The first dam on the site was built by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

from 1881 to 1884 to regulate the flow of water on the

Upper Mississippi River The Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, at the confluence of its main tributary, the Missouri River. History In terms of geologic and hydrographic history, the Upper ...

. A constant flow was desired by

loggers Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...

, fur traders, and

millers A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...

downstream at

St. Anthony Falls Saint Anthony Falls, or the Falls of Saint Anthony ( dak, italics=no, Owámniyomni, ) located at the northeastern edge of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only natural major waterfall on the Mississippi River. Throughout the mid-to-late 1 ...

. The current structure was built in 1899. Lake Winnibigoshish is Minnesota's fifth largest lake, at .

Damage caused by the dam

At the time of the construction of the original dam, the region was inhabited almost exclusively by

Ojibwa The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

Indians, who had lived on the shores of this part of the river for many generations, as documented by the explorer,

Henry Schoolcraft Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (March 28, 1793 – December 10, 1864) was an American geographer, geologist, and ethnology, ethnologist, noted for his early studies of Native Americans in the United States, Native American cultures, as well as for his 1 ...

. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used 2,000,000 board-feet (4720 cubic meters) of pine for the dam and related buildings, wiping out large sections of

conifer Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...

forests. Along the shores were the Ojibwa's

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

fields,

maple tree ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...

marshes,

wild rice Wild rice, also called manoomin, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both ...

marshes, villages, and

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

s. A staple in their diet was fish, which they caught with nets placed in the swift and shallow river current. Construction of the dam raised the water level by , not only obliterating the natives' homes and history, but also wiping out their fisheries. Recent archeological research has shown that the burial mounds and

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

fragments dated from 700–1000 ce. The construction of this dam was a significant milestone in the historical record of white,

Western European Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

settlers,

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

, and commercial interests eradicating the

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

population from most of Minnesota.

Replacement dam

The 1899 dam, which is in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, replaced the 1884 dam, substituting concrete for wooden components. By the 1920s, Minnesotans were flocking to the area in search of pristine camping, fishing, and hunting grounds. The Northlands Camp built a hotel, cabins, and a store for the throngs of tourists. Today, scores of locks and dams effectively control the water level on the Upper Mississippi River, aiding navigation and averting most adverse flooding, and the tourism continues to be a significant contributor to the region's economy.

References

External links

Lake Winnibigoshish Dam - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District
*

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

(HAER) documentation: ** about six dams including this one ** ** ** {{National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Buildings and structures in Cass County, Minnesota Buildings and structures in Itasca County, Minnesota Dams completed in 1884 Dams completed in 1899 Dams on the Mississippi River Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Historic American Engineering Record in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Cass County, Minnesota United States Army Corps of Engineers dams National Register of Historic Places in Itasca County, Minnesota

Damage caused by the dam

Replacement dam

See also

References

External links